innovation. developments around. the surveillance. show how leading telecom companies secretly gave a british spy agency. access to both net traffic. and washington debate over mass surveillance is ultimately swept under the rug along with counter snooping initiatives that despite most people's apparent disapproval of. the u.s. keeps its citizens away from the middle east. by terror threat we look at the butterfly effect of washington support for the rebellion in syria.

just turning nine am on saturday here in moscow this is our live with me rory stewart show thank you for joining us today. fresh surveillance scandal is unveiling in the u.k. it's been revealed that major telecom companies are secretly collaborating with a british intelligence agency giving it unlimited access to the private communications of millions of customers documents naming bt vodafone cable and arising business among the companies aiding g c h q to intercept much of the world's online and telephone traffic ultimately this all leaked by the whistleblower edward snowden and it all comes out on the heels of previous revelations showing the agency was generously financed by the n.s.a. and this reporter wattis sara forth in london. these are three big companies and the four smaller companies really making up a large part of the high capacity undersea fiber optic cables that really make up

the backbone of the internet's architecture now these fiber optic cables carry vast amounts of data for millions of users who back in june the guardian newspaper had revealed details of the c.h.p. is so cool data hoovering programs not this was where g.c. h.q. it's alleged were able to tap into these fiber optic cables and installed bars amounts of data for up to thirty days now this was named operation tempora and a german newspaper has just published what it's alleged is the most sensitive aspect of this operation and that is the name of the commercial companies that were passing along this information that telecommunications providers can be compelled to cooperate with requests from governments under the nine hundred eighty four telecommunications act but what privacy advocates are really concerned with here is that these big companies haven't been giving enough of

a challenge to requests for this large scale surveillance the company have yet to respond to these specific allegations but the german newspaper saying that the details that they've gone through in this is from the big chunk of information leaked by whistleblower edward snowden prior to see his gaining asylum in russia and the german if they visit this really shows now that telecoms firms were far more complicit in u.s. u.k. spying activities than have previously been thought a hundred million pounds were provided by washington t d c h q over a period of three years now they were payments that were made to secure access to the british in british intelligence gathering programs and returned it was alleged to teach he was required to quote pull its weight so you can see that really a lot. of questions that can be raised again about that complicity between the u.s. and u.k. intelligence gathering and i think the levels that that has been going to mean of

course you've got this large amount of information that was leaked by edward snowden that's being came seeing now it has all these details coming to light it sort of seems to push it further every time is it more like the shed on the relationship between the two countries or to correspondents or a for us in the meantime former m i five officer sean or she says despite the fact that close cooperation between the u.s. and u.k. intelligence is nothing new the latest revelations do show it all in a rather different dimension one thing that people tend to forget is there is an old program of mutual assistance which was called echelon which was exposed in the one nine hundred eighty s. and then fed into the european parliament in the one nine hundred ninety s. which led to a report that said that europe should develop its own standalone internet infrastructure not depend on the u.s. infrastructure of course this came out just before nine eleven and was lost in the sort of security panic that happened afterwards so this will resistance have been

going on for decades let's have no doubt about that and it's also been a very good way for the n.s.a. and q. to circumvent domestic laws and domestic warrant to requirements so they can spy on each other and then feed each other the same the information they need back without having to go through the courts so it's always been quite a corrupt relationship however i think these revelations that came out in the guardian take it to a whole new level we are now looking at g t h q it's actually prostituting itself to the n.s.a. they are saying we can get around some of your laws we can help you we will go to the nth degree to help you give us your money. you know while the backlash from snowden's latest leaks is expected in the u.k. in the u.s. the government is diverting public attention from the much criticized practices he's gone a taking a look at why ultimately people's discontent is simply being ignored while edward snowden as the messenger remains the focus of everybody's attention the u.s.

government is trying to kill his message or at least contain it senior intelligence officials have testified in congress so sure everything is done in accordance with the law congress has already killed the bill that would make the n.s.a. walk back some of its powers so as of now no concrete steps have been taken to rein in n.s.a. surveillance but call for reform keep coming lawmakers are putting forward new initiatives earlier this week the president met with members of congress with. slashing and playing this down over the course of tracking snowden is much easier for the white house defending disabilities state and here's what president obama said about that just in the wake of snowden's revelations and if people can't trust not only the executive branch but also don't trust congress and don't trust. federal judges to make sure that we're biting by the constitution due process and rule of law then we're going to have some problems on that trust issue

a gallup poll shows fifty three percent of americans now disapprove of the government surveillance programs thirty seven percent approve and now the poll by the quinnipiac university conducted just in the wake of snowden's revelations shows forty five percent of americans say the government's anti-terrorism efforts have gone too far restricting civil liberties three years ago that percentage was twenty five so it's a massive shift in attitudes bomb makers certainly have to respond to their constituents concerns and we hear many of them say something has to change something has to be done but is longer snowden's own destiny remains the top story it will be much easier for the government to sweep the debate under the rug in washington i'm going to take it. and it was. from reporters without borders she thinks that washington's tough stance on edward snowden is actually aimed at deterring any potential whistleblower was from coming forward in the future but just would like to remind you they're the affair of war or

against we saw glowers. which was abducted in one thousand nine hundred seventeen. prosecution have been launched against we so do ours so even under the obama administration it's clear that the obama administration hopes that war will discourage any potential we saw grow or to. to reveal any information that you also have to understand that here and us any information related to national security is considered a secret is considered classy fight so everything is classified so it's really easy to become a creamy now in the eyes of the obama administration if you're revealing any information which are related to national security well edward snowden's plight has a turn him into a virtual star a new smartphone application called snowden run three d. puts the digital version of the whistleblower in

a never ending chase and what looks like a cia agent in the process the man on the run is collecting a u.s.b. sticks and laptops containing sensitive information players can also resort to a call uncle putin option to get help in the form of a hydrogen bomb there's also a restart button which allows players to try again if the character gets caught perhaps something the game designers seem to believe might actually happen to the real life snowden. so ten minutes past the hour here in moscow a thanks for joining us today washington's issued a travel alert for u.s. citizens visiting the middle east and north africa due to an unspecified terror threat by al qaeda though with a specified time table that's just a day after it announced it's about to temporarily shut twenty one of its embassies in the region this weekend and the menace though comes from the very groups

fighting on the side of the rebels in syria of course the rebels being backed by the west author and historian gerald hole and he thinks he finds it ironic. i think that what does alert basically reflects is the fact that the united states' policy in that part of the world has backfired for example in syria united states has basically encouraged if not supported a war against the damascus based regime of all saw this was involved a number of u.s. nationals and european nationals going into syria to fight with the so-called jihad or this is given to shut me armed to. back force this is such as they are in syria which is tied to al qaeda and iraq which into law a smoke has been engaged in a spate of car bombings in baghdad in the surrounding region so it seems to me the state department alert basically reflects a failure of u.s. policy. the backlash from the insurgent groups linked to al-qaeda has also affected

similar communities in the region around two hundred kurdish civilians were taken hostage in syria this following clashes with you how tests shortly after one of the code leaders was assassinated this story to ati's or nicholas. considering the complexity of syria you have to understand that there are dozens of groups of people who are divided by either faith or nationality or ethnicity all of them are also involved in this bitter battle which has been going on in the country for the last couple of years kurds are among the biggest ethnic groups kurds how are actually the largest nation in the world that does not have a state the dream of statehood is something that kurds have entertained for hundreds of years they are originating in iraq turkey and in syria now increasingly kurds in syria are coming under under extreme pressure from the radical groups which have permeated syria and are affiliated with al qaida recently broken out in

several villages on the border between syria and turkey primarily in the northern all the province several hundred kurds have been taken hostage by fighters of all loser front and they are also helping videos posted on the internet which claim to be pictures of kurds who have come under attack from the from the extremists truly horrific pictures now the kurdish militia has called them kurds in their region to unite in their struggle against the radical islamists are deleted with al qaida forces are also dreaming of their own state and it's none other than syria that there are plenty to initiate their state out in fact they're saying they're going to get right to it immediately after ramadan ends and that is just in a week's time still the situation in that region is incredibly incredibly harsh and literally boiling at this point as we're having a very having again hundreds of people of ducted from their homes we're also hearing about people being killed just for the simple reason that they're kurds and

it really doesn't seem like anybody is especially paying attention primarily the western media there is very little information on the subject if you try to look for it. well the meantime chief has also commented on the ongoing situation in egypt that the militant group's leader claimed. it was a western plot we report on the continuing protests by those supporters from president that's coming your way in just a few minutes here on our. also the comma destroy a diplomatic wrangle the fight continues for legal aid to a russian program snatched by washington from the dominican republic without moscow's consent or even knowledge for that matter but also is ahead for you with the rest of the world's top headlines.

we'll look at. science technology innovation all the least of elements from around russia we've. covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything. i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. we can we know if you. choose to use the consensus you. choose to get to. choose the stories that impact your life choose. to.

there are moscow time this is r t with me rule re sushi al qaeda is chief is accused washington of conspiring with the egyptian military to overthrow mohamed morsi. and he made his first public comments on the situation in egypt since the ousting of the country's is the misleader his supporters meantime continue to stage mass demonstrations across the country another night of unrest so police firing tear gas on one of the marches or the military warned to sit ins would be stormed. through has the latest from a divided country. of course we had this sort of forty hour deadline for an interior ministry who said after two days they will erect this is a barricade around these two cities for that ousted leader mohamed morsy in the capital they've said this will mean that to people can leave the city in the end i

enter it's a kind of besieging now in the run up to this we have had to have mass protests in support of the deposed leader across the country thirty four marches in total one of them which ended up in the media production city which is in yeah six books to the district of the capital resulted in clashes with security forces featuring take asked the protest is that they have been attempting to set up a new city in hundred apparently barricades as well as wrecking tents there which is why the security forces crack down on not speaking to protesters again one of the maintenance here in the capital they tell me that they will think about possibly setting up a new sit ins like this one the media city if these big sit ins here. nasr city and easier on cleared by security forces in the next few days it's very tense here with the heavy deployment of troops and the military and expected clashes on the horizon

when the syrian ministry takes the plunge and actually does try and evacuate these people because there are a lot of people in the streets in support of the ounce to me that there really are tens of thousands of fire you know women and children who are in these sit ins and you think going on all guns blazing it will be a bloodbath so we have to see how the situation develops overnight and in the coming days. of course want to bell true inmates at guantanamo bay have accused the guards of carrying out invasive procedures including the so-called get. a one size routine as outlined by the last british resident detainee shaka to his lawyer according to the inmate a southern extraction team walked into a recreation area where he was on a solemn protest and then. forced him to the floor he claims he was then shackle taken to a cell as he was held in a chokehold other describes being carried around like a sack of potatoes revelations coming by the white house's renewed efforts to close the facility that's already burned up nearly five billion dollars since being

opened a former guantanamo bay prison are released groundless accusations against him that told us it takes a lot to end this kind of torture. just to survive those. understatements and all those things i stayed five years and went on the torture even i was clear that i'm not a terrorist and i have never been involved in any kind of terrorist activities this was proved by the american government themselves i myself have been a house one hundred strike during my time with and went on. that was a i know way home difficult and part of this to be on hunger strike and. i know nobody in guantanamo will go to hunger strike. if they will have really

big problems they have to fight to the hilt. to don't go give up their hope. many stories of the web site. for example too young to drink alcohol but old enough to own a weapon america's national rifle association has lost the country's supreme court . yet more with the controversial technique despite. ready to go for the. more. public.

the story of an undercover arrest that left a mother in despair and a foreign ministry. suspected of cyber fraud was shipped to the u.s. from the dominican republic russian officials as well as the man's family. takes up the story. he's accused of being a must to internet fraudster alexander punin is currently believed to be in a prison in the us state of georgia extradited there last month from the dominican republic his friends didn't know what happened to him for telekinesis only after one month we found out he was indeed arrested and held there but that's all we know that even his own mother was left in the dark eager to belgium was there when he

was already on his way back to russia we were waiting for him at home but he didn't arrive he simply disappeared a king computer programmer from near moscow the twenty four year old was wanted for embezzlement through internet scams used on banks including u.s. ones of at least five million dollars the russian government has lashed out at the u.s. saying he was snatched without their knowledge plus cash and was about someone steals that well once again faced with the rest of the russian citizen on the u.s. more and in the third countries shall consider this practice which has become a vicious tendency completely unacceptable. referring to a bilateral agreement in one thousand nine hundred nine russia's foreign ministry says the u.s. should have told them about russian nationals they wanted to rest when we asked the u.s. embassy in moscow about the matter they declined to comment none of it helps alexander's mother who remains convinced of her son's innocence right to anyone i don't believe his tell so much money i'm not saying that just because i'm his mother i spoke to

his friend the one who invited him to the dominican republic and he asked if my son don't have any more lies you know if you can sell me that he had been borrowing from him then you. and there are more cases like alexander's says the russian government where expeditions have been made without their knowledge in july the russian dimitrios enough was extradited from lithuania after allegedly importing hundreds of thousands of pieces of military equipment from the united states to russia. and in two thousand and eleven a pilot constantinian to shinku was sentenced to twenty years in prison in the us after being found guilty of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine there he was extradited from liberia in may two thousand and ten in each of these cases the russian government thought that they weren't informed in time by u.s. authorities with edward snowden's asylum worsening relations cases like alexander pardons will do little to help tom watson r.t.

moscow part of the world all the time let's get straight to it now with fifty five american army soldiers suspended over their involvement in sexual assaults and alcohol related offenses at the move followed a report by the defense secretary chuck hagel which revealed that more than twenty six thousand troops experienced quote unwanted sexual contacts just in the last one year and the numbers have risen dramatically our military officials say many of the victims still won't come forward as they're afraid of retribution. a black box recording from the derailed spanish train it reveals the driver ignored three warnings to slow down the train was rushing towards a bend with the speed almost three times the limit when it came off the rails killing seventy nine a criminal investigation under way the driver meantime charged with reckless homicide the incident has been one of the deadliest in europe and the worst in spain in decades. senior lawmakers and ministers from

silvio berlusconi's people of freedom party have threatened to resign after italy's top order up held the conviction of the former prime minister in tax fraud should the threat be enacted it would jeopardize the country's government that was formed following a two month long political deadlock about was going he was sentenced to four years in prison likely to serve only house arrest or community service after the sentence was reduced to a year under a two thousand and six part of. now on the program here on r t is easy you membership bad for business almost eighty percent of u.k. bosses believe so in a recent poll they voted in favor of holding a national wide nationwide referendum on breaking away from the union this report now to watch in london. i thought that switzerland was missing out by not being in the european union nope well now it's in my eyes that the majority of britons also

think that they'd be better off alone after the british group think tank found that fifty four percent of u.k. citizens believe that britain would benefit from leaving the european union and joining the european free trade association instead following the examples of switzerland and norway which by the way have been thriving while the european union is in economic turmoil at the same time the debate of whether or not britain should stay or leave the e.u. has been getting louder amongst british businesses now to talk about the issue i'm joined by dylan sharp from business for britain didn't your organization is urging the government to renegotiate the e.u. membership but what's wrong with the status quo when at the moment british business is subject to huge amounts of regulation and red tape that originates in brussels not only that the great single markets which was what we were sold in one nine hundred seventy three when we joined is actually restricting the amount of trade

the british businesses can do with the rest of the world the fast growing economies in the middle east in the southeast asia and in south america we hear a lot of businesses complaining about e.u. regulation costing them money how does it cost them money well you've got to go through all different businesses if you go to startups you have to comply with a ridiculous number of laws just to be able to employ people just be able to make your workspace compliant going up further. they have to check off a number of products before they even get them into other european countries and when it comes to the big countries there's reams of regulation which actually prevents them importing and exporting into and outside of the european union if they want to keep us as part of the union they have to give us a bit more of what we want because up until now it's been a lot more of what they want to launch out from business or britain thank you very much. talking to us so we three out of four bosses in the u.k. saying that they're for and out referendum in twenty seventeen there's definitely

no shortage of opinion on the matter from london. and moscow researchers the moment we look at the ancient custom of bloodline feuds in russia's caucasus region and how they're adjusting to the twenty first century thanks for joining us today. i've got a big question for you how stupid can stupid terrorist paranoia get according to four progressive stuck on the texas department of public safety demanded that any women entering the state senate hand over any tampons or pads before entering wow so why would they do this are they really that scared that some terrorists are playing to sneak a bomb into the place at any cost according to news to yahoo dot com the official

reason is that they're afraid of people using projectiles as a form of protest against a law that would really restrict abortions oh well no i kind of see where you abortion is an issue that people really get furious over now it kind of all makes sense but what what's that they're afraid of projectiles but people with guns were allowed to take them into the senate are you kidding me i think the second amendment does a lot more good than harm but i think it goes without saying that for women to concealed carry their hygiene items they should need a permit or permission from anyone but that's just my opinion.

cleaning his gun after being on duty is a matter of priority it's almost a ritual for him and he's helped by his seven year old son. i want my son to be a soldier everybody in our family has been a military man. my father and even my grandfather and his time it's always been that way you could say our family loves weapons. already disassemble the pistol by himself and knows where each individual part goes . he says it's not too heavy for him it's just his hands are too small.